The Importance of Moving From Applause to Participation

“You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

This past weekend, I attended a major sporting event with my 12-year old son, Salem. Here’s the selfie to prove it. It was a close game. And our team won in dramatic fashion.

If you’ve ever attended a sporting event (especially football), you know the fans in attendance can be quite passionate at times.

The overweight, 30-year old man next to me criticized the coach the entire game for not calling the right plays. Apparently, a play-action pass would guarantee a score on almost every play. Never mind the fact that the actual coach had probably spent 60+ hours watching film and meticulously planning for this game… apparently the guy next to me knew more.

Meanwhile the 50-year old woman behind us with the raspy voice knew, somehow, that the referees had a bias against our team. Every call they made against the home team was wrong and I lost count how many times they didn’t call a penalty on the other guys. The fact that we were 22 rows up and the refs were within feet of the players didn’t seem to bother her… apparently she saw everything better than the trained professionals.

But I’ll leave those thoughts aside for now. There are probably some life lessons to be drawn about leadership and criticism and humility, but maybe I will save them for another time.

During the game, on this particular afternoon, I was struck by our propensity to applaud others. It seems we are a people who love to cheer.

We are quick to clap and stand and whistle when people accomplish great feats. We applaud enthusiastically at athletic events, musical venues, dramatic performances, spacecraft landings, and even product launches.

Applause is important to us. It allows us to express appreciation, offer encouragement, and even affect the outcome of sporting events. It makes us feel like we are part of the action… and that is where applause can become deceptive.

Applause is not the same as participation—at least, not in all cases. But I fear that often times, we confuse the two.

Recently, Fast Company published an article about advocacy based on a study conducted by Cone Communications. The study revealed that 60% of Americans believe tweeting or posting information online is an effective form of advocacy or support. While activism used to require making a donation, volunteering time, or signing a petition, in today’s world, “activism” has become as simple as clicking a button.

And while the study is quick to point out that ‘liking’ or ‘tweeting’ about a social cause does help raise awareness, less than 35% of respondents who supported a cause online could point to an actual donation made to the same cause. Applause has become confused with participation.

Alison DaSilva, executive vice president of Cone Communications, sums it this way, “It’s no surprise we’re seeing a gap between the actions Americans say they’d like to take online and what they’re actually doing; considering the bulk of online activities offered today are focused on more passive actions, such as watching a video or ‘liking’ a social page.”

Cheering for a cause is rarely the same as participating in it. (tweet that)

Recently, the Ice Bucket Challenge made a big splash on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. According to some data about the campaign, more than 90% of the people mentioning it (posting themselves being doused or passing on the word) did not make a financial donation to support actual research on the disease.

I enjoy the way you tell the truth and the fact behind things many of us sometimes over look. I’m guilty of being one that felt that tweeting or sharing a certain cause is giving back. Although it may bring some awareness, I know I could be do more to help the cause. Mahalo for this, it brought things into perspective for me. Aloha.

I completely agree with your stance about actually donating money to charities. However most charities will not allow you to donate unless you give them your phone number, email, etc. Then you’re on a list and are sometimes harassed to give more. I donated to a charity that continuously called me looking for more money, and was actually rude when I didn’t want to give more. Such a shame! I would donate much more money if they just took the money and didn’t send me mail over and over again which is such a waste of paper. Not to mention this is a minimalist site. The last thing I want is more mail! If you have any pull Joshua, maybe you could suggest to these organizations to accept the donation without calling and/or sending more junk mail to the donors homes.

I have managed the issue you cite in several ways. When I want to make a one-time contribution, I include a note with my check saying something like, “If you cash this check, you are agreeing not to sell or give my contact information to anyone else, and you agree not to contact me except to mail me a receipt.” For other orgs that I like to support on an annual basis, I ask them to contact me only once a year, and say I will no longer support them if they send frequent mailings. If I get calls from any org that I don’t want to get calls from, I ask them to remove me from their call list — and they do. I also keep a log of when I make donations to each org. And before donating to a new org, I check orgs out on charitynavigator.org or similar sites to see how they are rated. Some smaller, but worthwhile orgs, are not rated if they do not meet certain financial minimums, but that does not mean they are not worth supporting.

I work for a non-profit. If you gave me money and told me not to contact you, I would respect that, and we do have donors who don’t want to be contacted. Otherwise, yes, you would go on a list and you would be contacted. Simply opt out, don’t “not give”-give them a chance.
On another note, whether donating money or time always investigate the charity to ensure you are giving to a reputable group. Even well known charities can fall from grace.

I volunteer for two local charities (a Food Bank and my local branch of Alzheimers society (UK)( and I find I get as much out of volunteering as they hopefully benefit from my involvement. In both cases, it’s very easy to see the impact we are making as volunteers and this gives instant job satisfaction. It’s also very good from a social point of view. I’ve met a good variety of people from all kinds of backgrounds, they are all really great and some have become friends outside of our work. If you have the time, I definitely recommend finding something that you enjoy to volunteer for.

Well put! As an aside, are you able to recommend any charities which would benefit from volunteer work, rather than cash donations? As a temporary world traveller I am looking for short term volunteering opportunities, but can’t seem to find anything suitable, as they often require longer term commitments. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

soup kitchens, homeless shelters, libraries, hospitals, schools, nursing homes. Check to see if your community or the community you are temporarily visiting has a volunteer clearing house – mine does. Soup kitchens often are looking for servers or last minute sandwich makers; libraries for book shelvers, hospitals for “candy stripers,” or visitors/readers; same with schools and nursing homes. It doesn’t take much. But you have to be willing to do what is needed to be done — not what you want to do.

Their directors want my money. When I offered time and expertise I never got a reply.
My money stays in the family so my nieces can finish university in the shortest time without the need for jobbing or loan.

I had to laugh, Joshua…”But they knew better!” lol so funny—so true. :) Customers often try to tell me how to do my job and they are clueless. I give, I volunteer, I pray. It’s worth being asked to do more. So what about an additional phone call or mail! That’s why we have a recycle bin or delete button! BTW your son is adorable! Looks the same age as my granddaughter. My, we are blessed!!! :)

Just to add—animal shelters often need volunteers just to walk dogs so they can get some fresh air, exercise and companionship. You don’t have to open your wallet. ;) —no excuses. If you can’t find a charity who just needs your presence, you are not looking hard enough. I have NEVER been urged to donate cash after donating time. Never. And if so…you can just say “No.” why is that hard?! Just so tired of excuses.

I agree with many of you on giving money-it does just seem to produce more requests. We have chosen to give by fostering and adopting 2 children from our local child welfare system. We give blood. We mentor teens and young adults-informally-there doesn’t always have to be a formal “charity”. We adopt all of our pets from the humane society. Giving is so much more than just money.

Helping people in need is generally a kind thing to do, you just got to be wise about who you’re giving things too.

It’s best (from my experience), to volunteer for charity organizations over actually just giving things to strangers.

For instance, yesterday, all in one day, I was running a booth for the Ronald McDonald House, and I had a homeless person I talked to for awhile (completely unrelated with me running the booth.) Instead of giving the homeless guy money, I let him use my phone to call charities that would be able to help him.

The RMH booth was also a success, yesterday was a great day! Awesome post Josh.

And please if any of you would like to read more blogs about minimalism could you check out mine? Thanks!

I was surprised and impressed by an elderly neighbor who collected small hotel shampoos, soaps, lotions when she traveled and bagged them in Ziplocks with a washcloth. Every time she went downtown to the Courthouse Square, she would give a bag to a homeless person. They were always delighted. The Square is always loaded with people walking their dogs and many carry large dog biscuits to give to the homeless people’s pets that are often there. Giving does not have to be about money.

Fantastic blog. As a veteran, I often chuckle at people who simple buy a “Support Our Troops” magnet but have never volunteered or spent time with veterans. This should encourage people to actually participate rather then “cheer” from the sideline. Thanks

I didn’t realize you were here in Phoenix, Joshua. That was a great game. My mother-in-law was even glued to the screen.

Love this article and the points about slacktivism. I think people just need to keep their sense of accomplishment in check after posting a picture of themselves holding a sign up or whatever it is they’re doing.

There is a reason why they are called “fans.” It is short for fanatics. I used to work for a pro sports team. They also think if the team wore the right colored socks (I am not making this up) we would make to the playoffs. I could tell stories for over an hour about the “interesting” things fans say and do.

I have a local charity that I support. It is an off-shoot of a local church. They work with terminally ill, indigent people. I know where the money is going and that it is spent prudently and wisely. I tried volunteering for a national organization that has several chapters in my State but they never got back to me. I now work two jobs (one full-time, one part-time) after a period of unemployment so I don’t have time to volunteer right now. I don’t answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number. When my father was alive I spent time talking with him about his service in the war (among other things of course). There are many of us out here doing our little bit charity-wise that don’t make a big deal out of it. Re-tweeting or liking something is another way we try to show our support when we have no other way.

I had a conversation a long time ago with some friends about “pick your passion”. This article reminded me of that. In a nutshell, I was trying to get the idea across that there are so many causes out there that it’s important as an individual to focus your attention to the 1, or a few, where you feel most strongly. Thus taking a minimalist approach to what causes you are involved in. Over time, your passion might change causes as a result of life events, changes in the country or globally, or a change in your resources for giving, etc.

Today with social media, it seems like 1000’s of causes our in front of us every day. Even checking out of the grocery line or pets mart, you are asked if you would like to donate. We are saturated with give more, do more, be more.

So with a focused approach, we are able to know within ourselves our contributions to our family, community, world. And this may not translate into data for reports like the stray dogs people take in off the street and work hard at finding their family or finding a good home which may take several days/weeks and money to meet their needs along the way. But this minimalist approach, allows us to pass up on the media craze of activism or simply saying no when solicited for a donation. Peace of mind.